Focus On Success

Written by Rachael Kizza

Jim Collins in his book, Good to great, believes that the best way to grow is to FOCUS. Focus on one thing that you are good at and not only good but you’re BEST at. In that you can beat other people at it. Once you discover it, channel all your energies into it and you will experience immense breakthrough.

Focus I believe is setting your eyes on one thing and seeing it through to the end.

Businesses /organisations require undivided attention because they are growing; like a baby, every stage is as important as the initial kicks .Failure to focus on it will lead to bumps and humps along the way.

The great book says, ``out of the abundance of your heart, the mouth speaks.’’ What is your heart full of? It will come out in your talk with people, your thoughts and even your social media activity will reveal your focus.

Starting an organisation and growing it is a huge task, everything relies on you, in simple terms you are the mother of your baby. That is a huge task and has sub responsibilities under it to see it blossom.

What is your focus??

Are you the kind who wants your baby to be grown by others? Or the mother who doesn`t want to carry out the tough job but wants to enjoy the benefits? Whichever you are, shortcuts will only lead to your baby getting stunted and might eventually collapse or die.

Helpers come in but they can`t take care of that baby more than its mother. You have the upper hand.

Keep your focus with a clear head and be ready to put in the hard work always.

Kyusa empowers youth to grow sustainable businesses by helping them channel their energies at what they are passionate about.

Effective Management of Time & Money

“Tell me how you use your time and how you spend your money and I will tell you where and what you will be ten years from now” -Napoleon Hill

Time and money are some of the most valuable resources that you have been blessed with. Therefore, understanding how to use them is very vital in evaluating your progress and identifying what may be holding you back. Your personal attitude towards life determines your attitude towards time and; how you use your time determines how much you want to earn as regards your destiny.

Managing your time is similar to managing your life that is; you need to know what you want to use it for. First of all, you need to learn to prioritize your tasks and always create evidence of accomplishment of a given task; as this serves as a reminder of your efficient use of time. In addition, you should also decide to devote your spare time to the things that you think are important to you other than your job for example family, friends, reading, education and recreation among others.

On the other hand; just like time, money should also be spent with a clear purpose. You therefore need to create a budget for all your expenses and ensure that you stick to it through self-leadership. You also need to allocate a portion of your income to savings, charity and give yourself some reward for doing your job.

Developing and sticking to your budget has many advantages which include; increasing your habit of self-discipline and also helps you learn how to make your money serve your purpose.

Finally, when you have figured out how to improve your use of time, you will be able to allot more of it to managing your money! You need to learn to seize every moment of time as if it were the only one you had.

We therefore encourage you to sign up for the Kyusa program so that you are equipped with more skills on time and money management through the Financial Literacy module in the Kyusa curriculum!

Enrollment for the January 2017 intake is on.

Self Leadership

Whenever leadership is mentioned, most leaders think of their followers which is not the case. A leader must be able to lead in all directions that is; those above you, your peers and those below you in order to be considered an effective leader.Prior to that everyone needs to lead themselves first before they can lead others and this makes self reflection and inner growth key for all leaders as they tackle the challenge of self leadership.

Self leadership requires a leader to know and develop their gifts to the best of their abilities for example through mentorship, consultancy, voluntary work and going for further studies. It is also the leader’s job to keep their passions alive for example read whatever he has to read, go wherever he has to go to stay on fire. And he does not need to apologize to anyone as he/she works at keeping their passion alive.

In addition, it is the responsibility of the leader to know their evisioned future and keep it sure. This can be through having constant personal vision nights where you answer questions like;

·         Is  my vision clear?

·         Is my passion hot?

·         Am I developing my gifts?

·         In what area am I most gifted?

·         Is my pace sustainable?

·         Are interior issues undermining my leadership?

“It is difficult to lead people to the future when your own picture of the future is fuzzy” hence the importance of personal vision nights.

Finally, a leader’s character needs to be in the right shape for the whole team to be able to achieve the mission. A leader needs to have moral authority given that followers will only trust leaders who exhibit the highest levels of integrity.Hence, leaders need to maintain a good character as they desire to influence others!

I therefore encourage you to partner with us in raising change agents who will exhibit high levels of self leadership as they roll out into the community to foster development. 

How Leaders make Effective Decisions

Every leader at some point is faced with the decision making challenge; having to choose what alternative to take. This can be in families, organisations, meetings, nations and even the world at large. Therefore below are some of the sources  of data that may be of help as you make different decisions;

First and  fore most,you need to know and act on your personal convictions-what you believe. Sometimes you need to have the courage to carry out your promptings , even when you might not understand them fully, and also when your team questions your wisdom as a leader.

Second you need to be a calculated risk taker. This can be done well through consulting your  mentors or your morale informers who are able to increase or decrease your risk level according to your need. This is mainly because excellence is honorable and inspires people as we make decisions along our leadership journey.

Finally,the the other important source of data is pain that is from previous experiences. Bill Hybels says that ,``one of the greatest importances of experience is that it provides veteran leaders with a “pain file” of raw-edged memories. ‘’The lessons gathered in this file help leaders to discern the level of potential pain inherent in any new idea. Hence pain is a powerful teacher and a fantastic informer to our decision making process.

Therefore, we implore you to partner with Kyusa in empowering Ugandan youth with decision making skills through the self management model so that we are able to better leaders for today and tomorrow who will effectively make the right decisions pertaining to development of our country and economy.

The Culture Of Giving Back

Giving back simply means giving and expecting nothing in return; giving of resources like time, money, skill and talent, expertise, material things and much more.

The giving back culture is not popular in Uganda, most volunteers will ask for some sort of facilitation to be able to give their time and skill in any organisation. Our culture promotes ``something for something’’ relationship where you can`t give just for just, you give because you expect something in return.

When we talk about giving back, it means giving back without expecting anything tangible in return except the realization that you have made a significant impact in the community and in some one`s life.

At Kyusa, we teach our change agents to give back to their communities even as they start-up businesses. One of our change agents Anthony has started up a project under ``Creams of Life’’ where he teams up with other organisations to raise money for them through music, dance and drama. The money raised is given to the particular organisation to support and they are not paid. They are simply giving back to their community.

Every person entrepreneur or not needs to cultivate a culture of giving back to their community without waiting on government to do all the work.

A few tips on how to give back to your community;

·        =  Partner with an organisation that is causing impact in your community by contributing your time, skill and expertise, money and resources.

·       =  Take on a child (or children) to support through school and give them a better education so they don`t drop out of school.

·         = Volunteer with an organisation and don`t expect money while at it.

·         = Give donations

·         = Take part in fundraising activities like runs and  car wash drives

How are you giving back to your community?

At Kyusa, we challenge you to embark on the journey to give back to your community? Remember little by little we gain ground, we better our community in our ``small’’ acts of service.

Mind Your Business #1

By Ralph Karama

Mind your Business! Is a statement I often hear. I then ponder and wonder what business these people refer to. The understanding many of us have of a business is one that sells cakes, clothes or even jewelry. Contrary to this, I believe our lives are our sole proprietorship.

Applicable to all businesses is the urgency to keep records. Today we handle the cash book as an essential business record. It is important for one to keep track of your income in flow, debit and credit not forgetting your balance. Now I am not talking about the income coming into your compartment because of selling something, but rather your personal income.

This right here is a sample of a cash book.

BRENDA’S PERSONAL CASHBOOK

Date	Opening Balance	Credit (Money Coming In)	Debit (Money moving Out)	Closing Balance
19th May	20,000/=	50,000/=	25,000/=	45,000/=

In this case Brenda started her day with twenty thousand, received fifty thousand and spent twenty five thousand. She therefore ended the day with forty five thousand Uganda shillings.

It is expedient for us to understand that “minding our business” involves keeping records of a number of things that happen in our lives. Finance being just one of them. Otherwise our businesses will fail. Well who wants an unsuccessful life?

So are you minding your business?

At Kyusa we empower out of school youth with business development skills including record keeping in business which can clearly be applied in our personal lives as demonstrated above.

It is much easier to prepare yourself for the future than preparing a future for yourself. Start now. Mind your business!

YOU’RE UNIQUE: LIVE IT

 ``The greatest enemy of great is good,’’ your greatest enemy is yourself; the voice within that keeps telling you to be like other people. You then end up trying to be like others and live a mediocre life. You even labor so hard to dress like them, speak, walk and even produce the exact products when it comes to business.

A Congolese proverb says, “wood may remain ten years in water, but it will never become a crocodile.” You can never change who you are but can ignore it. You only declare yourself a slave when you decide to depend on other people’s opinions to drive your life instead of focusing on your creativity that God created you with.

If you have no plans for yourself, you shall only be part of other people’s plans which defies the greatness you ought to display. Trying to copy other people’s lifestyles has killed originality which would have birthed all good things according to John Stuart Mill. You need to resist imitation and live the unlimited life. You must learn to be yourself in everything that you do.

Imitation is limitation and no one ever becomes great by imitation. You therefore need to make your own impression and dare to be who you are in leadership, entrepreneurship, business, employment.

At Kyusa, we take the youth through modules like self management, planning, business development, creativity and innovation. We encourage our change agents to discover who they are so that they are able to serve their unique gifts to the world and live life out of their unique ability.

Therefore, let us partner in this venture of raising passion driven change agents who desire to be great by being who they are.

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change…….Carl Rogers

Break The Cycle

Growing up, you desired to be wealthy. You were lucky enough to go through school, a chance you ought to be thankful for.

 While there, you fought battles in your mind of how you would excel amidst the increasingly competitive world.

Soon enough school was done and you realized one of the ways up the ladder of success was entrepreneurship. You started a business short of a documented business plan but rather one of mental processes where your business model canvas is none other than your mind and BOOM!! You were into business.

Two months down the road you still have to call Cousin Harry for twenty thousand for re-investment into your business. Sister Molly still bails you out on the weekly airtime for your personal phone bills not forgetting Uncle Mark who is now on your speed dial for lunch money. Why?

You did not follow principle. You played dumb to the principle of Record Keeping. You took for granted the importance of documenting your business plan so as to periodically evaluate it.

You despised how imperative it is for your drawer to contain a cash book, stock book and other essential business records. You aren’t unlucky cursed or a failure. Life simply desires that you learn what you do not know for the good of your business.

Many young people venture or even desire to venture into various businesses but often negate the importance associated with proper record keeping systems. At Kyusa, through our Business Development module, keen emphasis is placed on the essential records ought to be kept in business straight from the planning through to the implementation stages with the intention of avoiding major set- backs in businesses thus enabling them thrive.

It is unfortunate that the cycle of many young people falling prone to unsuccessful businesses due to poor record keeping systems goes on and on.

Break the cycle today, enroll for the program today.

Winning Attitude

 Awaken the winner in you by choosing to be optimistic at all times!

Winston Churchill stated that “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity but the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty”. One of the true secrets to success, not only for top entrepreneurs, business executives and professionals but for people of any profession from all walks of life is attitude. Therefore, the most important victory we need to achieve before we can win life’s many battles is to overcome self-doubts and develop a winning attitude.

Whenever a negative thought about yourself and your abilities eludes your mind, immediately cancel it out and declare it as unworthy, untrue and unrealistic; do not entertain it at all. It is imperative that you hold a picture of yourself as being competent, effective and successful. Hold that image firmly in your mind and do not let any self doubt erase it. Soon, very soon your mental picture will become your new reality. Try it; you’ll see!

KFC founder Colonel Sanders failed 1,000 times before he got a yes. He could have given up but he persevered. Always maintain a winning attitude even when you have failed at any venture that you may be pursuing; do not let failure define you. You can’t choose or control your circumstances, but you can choose your attitude towards your circumstances. 

The Kyusa experience is about positivity, looking within oneself and excavating that passion that is deeply buried; it’s about building onto what already exists and affirming it. Having a winning attitude is an aspect of Self management: this is a core aspect of the Kyusa curriculum covering self esteem, self evaluation, self confidence to mention but a few. Please join us on this journey to self discovery.

Choose a great attitude. Choose to win. Choose Kyusa.